Pham is an extremely nice guy and knowledgeable. Very accommodating and always answers people's questions. However, classes were sometimes a bit slow or he stops to answer too many people's questions. We fell behind and had to watch extra recorded lectures.

General course comments:
Lab worksheets are boring, long, and don't really help that much. Exams were hard to understand, wording is so vague sometimes. Launchpad's aren't very useful in terms of exams and spending extra time on them is a waste of time.

Professor Pham is a stellar professor, the class itself... not so much. Supposedly this class is the "easiest" of the LS7 series but the tests didn't feel like it was. Even one of the LA's during lab stated that they had no idea why the tests were hard compared to previous years; the wording was often very vague and tedious to comprehend. They (the instructional team) did give back points for questions they deemed unfair however. There was a fair bit of extra credit in the form of reflections and mini-midterms. I would take this class again with Pham (and any other classes he may teach) and highly recommend him. DO NOT underestimate this class just because it's called the "easiest".

Professor Pham is GREAT! Throughout the quarter, he was extremely helpful and did a good job explaining clicker questions, concepts etc. He’s an extremely passionate professor and if you have to take this class, I would definitely suggest taking it with him!

My main critique isn’t about Professor Pham, but just the class as a whole. The material (barring genetics) is absolutely uninteresting and launchpad is not helpful and will put you straight to sleep. I stopped reading launchpad about midway through the quarter and didn’t feel like I was missing out whatsoever. Labs are not helpful either, although TA Jalyssa made them a lot more enjoyable (BIG shoutout to her!!). They consist of filling out tedious worksheets that, in some cases, are legitimately at a 7th grade level. The exams were alright in terms of difficulty, but the wording (particularly on the 2nd midterm) was unclear for many questions and made it difficult to demonstrate my understanding of class material.

If you have to take this class, I’d highly suggest taking it with Professor Pham, as his enthusiasm makes this class more bearable.

This was a great class that I really enjoyed. It was challenging at times and pushed me and kept me on my toes. The class had 2 midterms and a final, along with pre-class quizzes and weekly quizzes as well. The first midterm was incredibly easy, but the second one was definitely harder and a lot of students ran out of time/scored significantly lower than the first. At times, it felt like the material was rushed but I can definitely understand why Dr. Pham wanted to get all of the material to us so we'd be prepared for the final. I loved how he required attendance by having iClicker Reef points, but also recorded the lecture so we can go back and re-do/review the clicker questions in our own time when we were studying for the exams. Like most LS classes, this was also a flipped classroom where most of the pre-class videos introduce/teach you what will be in class and we mainly do clicker questions in class. The questions for the pre-class quizzes are pretty easy and you can have multiple attempts at each question, but each wrong attempt for that question costs you 1/3 of the points. The weekly quizzes only allow 1 attempt and are just once a week, mostly during Friday and due at the end of the weekend.

Midterms are open for the entire day, but you only have a 2 hour window and the clock starts once you open the exam on CCLE. So get comfy and block out 2 hours at the best time that works for you to take it. The final is structured the same time window, but you're allowed 3 hours instead of 2. The TA videos are awesome for reviewing for the exams as well.

Dr. Pham is an incredibly passionate professor who really cares about his students and made this a great learning experience despite the external events going on. Definitely take this course with him! :)

The final was really fair

I have quite mixed feelings about this class. Before I begin, let me mention that Professor Pham in an amazing teacher and is very educated on the topics he discusses. However, his flaw is that he stop class too often to answer questions, which causes us to stay later online or have to watch the recordings after class. Who knows, maybe in person class will be different. I believe that the grading system is quite fair, they give you room to miss a couple of points in each category, similar to LS7A. The textbook and launchpads are absolutely useless. The only thing that is worthy of your time is the PEQs and the quizzes in the launchpad. The tests are pretty difficult and wordy, however if you enjoy the subject that might make it slightly easier. The labs are long and mindlessly boring. Overall Pham makes the subject interesting, but it does take a little time and effort. I believe the lectures and clicker questions are most helpful in preparing for the exams.

LS 4

So personally, I think a teacher's accent isn't a roadblock to any student's success in a class. Yes, Dr. Pham has a very thick accent, but the majority of people who paid attention in class understood everything he said.

With that said, I don't think you need Dr. Pham nor the textbook to succeed in his class. He gives you all the past exams for both midterms and sample final exam questions before the final. What more can you ask for? I did all of these and got an A in the class. Put in the time and effort and it should be very straightforward. Sure he isn't the ideal professor, but LS4 is a less than ideal course.

Pham is literally the most frustrating professor I have taken. He puts incorrect information on practice tests, and if you put this information down on the actual test, he marks you down and insane amount. His accent is very hard to understand, even though he is nice he is not a great teacher.

Dr. Pham is funny and an extremely engaging lecturer. He breaks everything down in a way that is understandable and answers questions during lectures. One of the best professors at UCLA hands down. I think 7B is the easiest of the 7 series. Make sure to show up to class and do the clickers; they are good practice for the tests!

Dr. Pham is the best professor I've ever had at UCLA. He's funny and makes biology interesting and engaging! I have never had trouble understanding him. In fact, he explains concepts so thoroughly and with so much patience that he helped make even the more challenging concepts digestible for me. 7A is relatively easygoing compared to the other classes in the 7 series because your test grades are composed of an individual and group phase that are weighted equally. This helps a lot and allows for a good margin of error on the individual phase. There's ample extra credit, too; I always chose the comic option where you get to draw a biology related comic, and I honestly had fun doing it. Being able to draw something for credit was a nice break during busy weeks.

Dr. Pham is the best professor I've ever had at UCLA. He's funny and makes biology interesting and engaging! I have never had trouble understanding him. In fact, he explains concepts so thoroughly and with so much patience that he helped make even the more challenging concepts digestible for me. 7A is relatively easygoing compared to the other classes in the 7 series because your test grades are composed of an individual and group phase that are weighted equally. This helps a lot and allows for a good margin of error on the individual phase. There's ample extra credit, too; I always chose the comic option where you get to draw a biology related comic, and I honestly had fun doing it. Being able to draw something for credit was a nice break during busy weeks.